Scholarship Intern Review

I'm a scholarship intern working in Advisory in Financial Services Performance Improvement. I did a wide range of daily tasks including research and developing and formatting reports, presentations and spreadsheets. Experience in lots of different areas of the business interacting with lots of different people. Worked for one week in each of three areas, with projects varying from a one-week research task to making small adjustment to slides and spreadsheets.

I haven't gained any qualifications yet or taken any training courses but I have developed a wide range of skills in preparing reports, conducting research, developing spreadsheets, networking, getting used to the working lifestyle and more.

I very much enjoyed the programme. There was always lots to be getting on with and the work was at the right level; it was challenging but at the same time manageable. I appreciated the wide variety of tasks with which I was involved.

I definitely feel valued; they take very good care of us on the programme, making sure we're always busy and that there's always somebody to ask for help. We are strongly involved with lots of projects and receive lots of feedback on the work we do, helping us to develop.

The programme is very well structured. We started off with a three-day training programme, learning about the company, the IT software and meeting all of the other people on the scheme. We were then assigned to a different person and business area each week and we were given tasks to do when we first met up with them at the start of each week.

As above, we had three days of training before the start of the internship which was very valuable in helping us to settle in to the company.

The HR team are very helpful in organising everything to make sure that we always know where we are meant to be. We also have a mentor assigned to each of us with whom we can discuss anything relating to the internship.

Fortunately I live quite close to the office where I worked so could stay in my home, but the commuting was still quite expensive, costing roughly £15 each day. However, the salary is very reasonable and more than covers the expenses.

We have lots of networking events which are always great fun and a great way to get to know the rest of the people on the scheme really well. Last year we had a table tennis competition and a dinner at the OXO Tower.

Yes

It is a fantastic company which has lots of great opportunities for young people to get experience that will prove very useful for the rest of their working life.

Get involved with lots of different things at school outside of work which are useful for a CV and for during interviews. Appear keen and enthusiastic and ask lots of questions.